Small gestures can yield lasting results

A few months ago, Guy Kawasaki tweeted (made a short announcement on Twitter, the micro-blogging site) that he was done with his next book’s manuscript and was looking for a few people to proofread it and give him feedback.

I was what I assume was a pretty large group of people who raised their hands. Who doesn’t want to read Guy’s book before it gets published? Anyway…read it, proofed it, critiqued it and sent it back.

Fast forward to a couple weeks ago. I got a package and voila, it was Guy’s new book, Reality Check (released October 30th). I thought sending it ahead of the release was a nice gesture. But when I opened it, Guy had also taken the time to write a personal note to me inside.

Class act.

You have to figure quite a few people (like Valeria Maltoni who mentioned she got one too, although for the life of me, I can’t find her reference now.) offered to proof his book. So it was probably no small task to get handwritten notes into each copy before sending them off. A very nice gesture but even more than that….smart marketing.

Guy knows how few handwritten notes and cards are used today. He knows it feels personal and that it makes a connection.

The book is a great read – very irreverent and practical. And the author – a great marketer.

P.S. If you find any typos….I swear, I told him about it! 🙂

How about you? What small gesture could you make to create a connection with your prospect, customer or employee?